]]>2010-09-03T17:12:24+00:002010-09-03T17:12:24+00:00http://linuxformat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12685&p=92625#p92625/etc/ppp/pap-secrets and /etc/ppp/chap-secrets to allow everyone from the group 'dialout' to be able to read/write to them, then add yourself to that group.

But I would just run wvdial with root privileges with sudo.

Not a security risk as sudo is *only* giving the *dialer* root access.

Switching user to root with su, then running wvdial on the other hand may be a security risk... never really thought about it.

]]>2010-09-03T16:27:03+00:002010-09-03T16:27:03+00:00http://linuxformat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12685&p=92624#p92624The next question is whether I should be running wvdial as root? Is this a security risk? If so then are there other permission amends that can be made to allow a user to run wvdial?

Interestingly kppp is launched as a user and doesn't need root permissions. Mind you I can't get a decent connection with that either!

When first plugged in the dongle it showed as a storage device as 1bbb:f000. After unmounting the device it changes to 1bbb:0017. I later discovered from the user_modeswitch forum that the device had actually switched at this point and was now ready for action.

I initially tried useing wvdial and after trial and error appeared to have a connection i.e. no apparent errors and a solid light on the dongle (more later). However, I could not load any web pages - just error messages! I then remembered the LXF113 article and that motivated me to try kppp. This was good because of the useful display giving some information about the connection. Sure enough I connected and peeked at 5kb/sec. It took about a minute to load the google home page - not great but a result! I disconnected and tried again but it wouldn't work and kppp kept locking up. It was late so I turned off the box for the night. Following day I got connected with kppp (apparently) with a data rate of 1kb/sec and no response from firefox. I had a steady light on the dongle but no data. I then went back to wvdial and got a solid light on the dongle - but no data.

Lights on dongle:

The booklet gives the following posibilites:Blue Modem is onGreen and orange Alternate blinking Searching for networkGreen Registered HSPA/UMTSOrange Registered GPRS/EDGE

I have never seen a blue light. If the PC is turned of with the dongle plugged in I get an orange light. When turned on it can flash either green, orange or RED. When I have an apparent connection it is either solid red or green (but not orange).

Given the absence of red in their note and my absence of blue in use I do not know what to think.

I am using LInux Mint Isadora KDE. Here is one of my sample wvdial.conf files that appears to connect: